lo-fi video thread

pianoforte · Post by **pianoforte** » Sat May 31, 2014 7:05 am

not mine but v. nice:

i have a few interesting projects in the works. my second vcr broke...againnnnnn...so i'll have to find another one but once i do it will definitely be put to good use.

Guido · Post by **Guido** » Wed Jul 16, 2014 2:47 am

pianoforte · Post by **pianoforte** » Thu Aug 21, 2014 2:42 am

so my hi8 camcorder broke back in february or so. i thought it was an issue with dirty playback heads, but when i tried to clean them the problem only got worse, so i put the camcorder on a shelf for a while and did some other things.

since then, i've acquired two older video8 camcorders which are more lo-fi and generally better in a number of ways. i don't have batteries for them yet but as of tonight i have them both up and running when connected to wall power. one has an issue with its built in mic but i'm working on getting that fixed.

i've also been doing a lot of experiments with vhs-c since getting a new generic battery for my camcorder. it's significantly more lo-fi than either of the 8mm tape formats, and i find it easier to modify the tape. i used to think the audio was horrible but it sounds good when the tape is played in a vcr using an adapter (as opposed to from the camcorder itself, in which case the audio is mono).

so i have a few projects in the queue. i don't have the money for batteries for the video8 cams yet so i'm accepting donations

pianoforte · Post by **pianoforte** » Wed Aug 27, 2014 2:25 am

untitled · Post by **untitled** » Fri Aug 29, 2014 9:19 pm

I had a S-VHS-C recorder from JVC. I payed almost 300$ for it (New! And it didn't even have a color viewfinder!). Somebody stole it. Proves that it still has value

Fact is that there are no VHS recorders (or decks) with firewire or high speed USB outputs. This is really a bummer as a high quality A/D video converter costs more than 10x that VHS recorder... if there was a solution like this, I would gladly pay more than 300 euros for one (if you have any tips, don't abstain!)...

On the other hand, be on a lookout for Panasonic MS-5... I can't really say they are "camcorders", let's just call them "SVHS machines". They have very high quality lens and they were once (the '90s) The standard in broadcasting. They are built like tanks (they would probably be still functional in year 2100) and while few years ago you could find them for under 100 euros, today they are selling for much much more. If you have a flea market nearby, you could probably get one for 20-30 euro... as they were produced in very very large quantities. Ask around your older neighbors/friends, maybe someone will give it to you for free (or, my suggestion, trade a TV tuner for it so they can transfer their family videos).

fujee · Post by **fujee** » Mon Jan 26, 2015 5:08 pm

Bump for good measure, I just bought my on VHS deck and a million tapes. Thought it was time to get into this for real. Anyone got anything cool to show?

pianoforte · Post by **pianoforte** » Sat Mar 07, 2015 4:22 am

fujee wrote:Bump for good measure, I just bought my on VHS deck and a million tapes. Thought it was time to get into this for real. Anyone got anything cool to show?

Glad to see you're getting back into lofi video art, fujee. From what I remember I really like your work. I'll be interested to see what you come up with.

I recently got rid of the majority of my analog camcorders. Kept only those which are fully functional or only need a fresh battery. It's so freeing to have some space at last. Kept two full-size VHS camcorders (both Panasonic models, one from 1987 and one from 1988, the later model having some gloriously trashy built-in fx), two 8mm-tape camcorders (one later-model Video8 cam which I carry in my backpack, and a Hi8 camcorder from 1993 which I use as a playback deck) and a VHS-C camcorder.

Bought a box of Video8 tapes off eBay a bit over a year ago. They were listed as having been erased but as it turns out they weren't. They're full of footage shot in and around Chicago in the late 1980s by a group of friends. There's some really interesting stuff there - clips of a snowstorm shot at 2 in the morning, clips from various house parties (complete with atrocious hair and beer-swigging white guys playing air guitar), and all kinds of moments from everyday life. I wasn't alive back then, so it's really interesting to see how "average Joe" and his friends lived. And of course there's plenty of beautifully degraded footage I can use in projects of my own.

pianoforte · Post by **pianoforte** » Sat Mar 07, 2015 5:00 am

pianoforte · Post by **pianoforte** » Sun Mar 08, 2015 8:24 pm

Saw this on Facebook:

"HI-8 / VHS / VHS-C cassette camcorders eat fancy digital file camera works and tell the tale back in warm captures, un-compressed."

Posted by Logan Owlbeemoth, one half of the duo that makes the Tachyons+ video art machines. http://tachyonsplus.tumblr.com/

pianoforte · Post by **pianoforte** » Sat Dec 12, 2015 7:18 am

random thoughts since i haven't been here in a while:

have been slimming down my collection of analog video recorders/devices significantly this year, i had too many broken pieces of equipment that i would neither fix nor use, so i took several bags to the dump and what i am left with lets me be productive and useful.

have been shooting a lot on hi8/video8 using a half-broken later model sony handycam from the late 90s, then running the hi8 tapes through a small army of vcrs. usually three generations - samsung "world wide video" vcr (designed for playing tapes from different video standards around the world, can't do a very good job with any of them) > sharp 4-head vcr (average in every way) > "symphonic" vcr (don't know anything about this model but it's surprisingly durable for any vcr, let alone an off-brand) and then sometimes a final step through a jvc s-vhs vcr (which adds a slightly softer layer). subjecting video to this assault usually leads to a very nice dirty result that doesn't look a thing like the original hi8 tape (which is almost always too clean for my taste).

bought another video8 cam on ebay today, sony ccd-f501 from 91. it's hard to find working examples from this series but according to the seller this one is functional. will be interesting to see what i can do with it once it arrives. apparently what was used to shoot this: (particularly interested in the night carnival scenes that start at 5:25)

have been focusing mostly on still photography recently but going to try and split things evenly over the next year. film photography is fun but analog videotape gives a completely different aesthetic and i forget about that sometimes.

hope i'm not the only twoismer who has been working on video projects. fujee?

Mexicola · Post by **Mexicola** » Sat Dec 12, 2015 8:09 am

Recently rescued an old Sony Handycam from my loft. Really looking forward to getting it rigged up. Thing has freaking night vision which looks so cool!

Techboy · Post by **Techboy** » Sat Dec 12, 2015 10:57 am

Oh I can imagine how that could come in handy Mexi

... The meetups, I mean. Not creeping around ...

Mexicola · Post by **Mexicola** » Sat Dec 12, 2015 1:35 pm

Exactly! Got alot of ideas.

Need to grill you about replacement laptop/pc at some point too dude. Advice needed.

Valotonin · Post by **Valotonin** » Sat Dec 12, 2015 3:16 pm

pianoforte wrote:

Celebrate pianoforte's photography because it will be beautiful.

Valotonin · Post by **Valotonin** » Sat Dec 12, 2015 3:19 pm

I just bought the last copy of trellion's 'Lighthouse tape' on vhs. Might not be to everyone's taste but the fact something this pure and analog was made this year is pretty intense.

Also a (very) brief clip of him lighting a joint and listening to twoism at the end of the video for 'syke' which is something that caught me off gaurd. I like.

pianoforte · Post by **pianoforte** » Sat Dec 12, 2015 5:07 pm

Subject: lo-fi video thread

Guido wrote:

wait, what the fuck? how did i not see this until now? this is gorgeous, what is this footage from?

pianoforte · Post by **pianoforte** » Sat Dec 12, 2015 5:09 pm

Valotonin wrote:
pianoforte wrote:

Celebrate pianoforte's photography because it will be beautiful.

aw. wish i could say i was responsible for those stills but they were actually from the collection of tapes i mentioned in the post just above them. i'm working on a similarly atmospheric video project though... may or may not have something to do with a music video i've been talking about since 2012...

pianoforte · Post by **pianoforte** » Sat Dec 12, 2015 5:12 pm

Valotonin wrote:I just bought the last copy of trellion's 'Lighthouse tape' on vhs. Might not be to everyone's taste but the fact something this pure and analog was made this year is pretty intense.

Also a (very) brief clip of him lighting a joint and listening to twoism at the end of the video for 'syke' which is something that caught me off gaurd. I like.

there's more people working in the analog video realm than you might think. i'd guess you're not on facebook, but there's a group called "tachyons+ video dimensions" that is dedicated to analog video art/projects/gear with over 2000 members... and i know there are plenty of others quietly working away in bedrooms worldwide... will try and remember to post links to some of my favorite projects i've seen over the last year or two... at any rate, glad to see others working on the same kind of thing as i am. vhs really is a beautiful medium, underappreciated but so gorgeous if you do it right.

747Music · Post by **747Music** » Mon Dec 14, 2015 3:56 am

pianoforte wrote:there's more people working in the analog video realm than you might think. i'd guess you're not on facebook, but there's a group called "tachyons+ video dimensions" that is dedicated to analog video art/projects/gear with over 2000 members... and i know there are plenty of others quietly working away in bedrooms worldwide... will try and remember to post links to some of my favorite projects i've seen over the last year or two... at any rate, glad to see others working on the same kind of thing as i am. vhs really is a beautiful medium, underappreciated but so gorgeous if you do it right.

Please do post some links. I don't really use facebook, but I love this kind of stuff.

vhs is awesome, beta too, of coarse. My parents bought a beta machine and camera (which was huge lol) back before the battle had an obvious winner. Unfortunately the camera broke in the early 90s. But my dad managed to capture some awesome family footage on beta tapes through the late 80s. They included things like the day I came home after being born in the summer of 86. (yes I was definitely what BoC were referring to in the song 1986 Summer Fire lol) Also things like a trip to the Toronto Zoo, trips to the beach, visiting relatives from Germany, etc.

I used that beta machine as a video feed for my gaming consoles to my crappy tv up until I finished high school and got a job in 2004. Unfortunately for it as well, it couldn't read tapes for a long time. My dad managed to copy a bit of the recordings to a vhs tape of some cool stuff, but tons of it is probably lost now. I don't even know if he still has the beta tapes anymore.

There was something about how that beta camera captured light in certain settings. It was really cool. Had a great ghost-like effect. I've never seen it act exactly the same anywhere else. In some cases, close, but still off. I'm sure my project idea 747Film would've been a thing if that camera survived.

ParticleGhost · Post by **ParticleGhost** » Tue Dec 15, 2015 1:28 am

really good one, i love the still shots too.

____twoism

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